Diablo 3 Season 1 Is Underway, Power Levelers Already Hit Level 70

Diablo 3's first Season is underway. Players must create characters from scratch and brave the long, grueling road to level 70. Wait, never mind, they're already 70.

The first person to get from level 1 to 70 needed less than two hours, according to IncGamers. Fellow power levelers quickly followed suit. Other players are just sitting around, wondering what the hell just happened.

The key to the power leveling is Adventure Mode. This mode gives players access to randomized quests (bounties) throughout the entire game world. Two bounties are particularly popular among the speed levelers. The first is "A Miner’s Gold" on the Howling Plateau in Act 2. The other is "The Miser's Will" in Act V. Players managed to push through these quests even with fresh characters and earn several level at a time. Here are videos showing each bounty being used for power leveling:

This power leveling requires its fair share of dying. This means that it's only going to be used in the Normal mode Season. The Hardcore (permadeath) version of Season 1 shouldn't be affected by this bounty farming, in other words.

It seems inevitable that someone would find a way to hit level 70 at a blistering pace. Players have had access to Diablo 3 Patch 2.1 throughout the summer thanks to the Public Test Realm. Some clearly used that early access to scout out shortcuts. YouTube, meanwhile, makes it really easy for these players to share these loopholes.

And why shouldn't they find loopholes? There are definitive incentives to hit level 70 as quick as possible. It gives you more time to work on Achievements, Conquests (Season-specific challenges), and Greater Rifts. The more time you can work on these activities, the higher you'll place on the leaderboards for the Season. Power leveling is also a quick way to unlock the Season-exclusive transmogrification helm, unlocked upon hitting 70.

There's a chance that Blizzard will try to stomp out these power leveling techniques by patching "A Miner's Gold" and "The Miser's Will." The studio's yet to announce any plans on that front, however. I agree with IncGamers that the chance of a rollback is slim, too. I don't think they would endear themselves to Diablo 3 players by wiping out the progress of players leveling through more conventional means.

Also, I don't doubt that the community would simply find a new shortcut if these were patched. If Blizzard's intent on making players "take the long way" to 70, that's going to be a continuous battle.

Diablo 3's Patch 2.1 launched earlier this week. Blizzard is celebrating its release with double rewards for the next few days.